Background

Steve Watts is a songwriter, vocalist, keyboard player and sound engineer with a wide variety of experience of the music industry.

As a child he studied ABRSM piano, cello and music theory, and is a former chorister of the famous St Albans School Boys choir and has even sung in The Royal Albert Hall! In his teenage years he studied orchestral percussion, drumming, and A-level music.

In the late seventies, Steve was the drummer in 'The Innocent Vicars' whose singles received regular airplay on John Peel's late night show on Radio One and even made it as far as 'Round Table', the station's mainstream show for new releases. In 1981, the band appeared on the Virgin Records album "Class of '81". Their singles are now considered to be 'collectibles'.
Steve went on to play drums for the heavy rock band 'Maelstrom'

Then he was employed by Simmons Electronics in the early eighties. Simmons were the British company that invented the electronic drum kit and Steve was the technical liaison between them and their customers, particularly the distributors, recording studios and musicians, including many of the chart-topping artistes of the day.

He returned to keyboard playing in the nineties and joined a club band for whom he also provided backing vocals. This gave Steve the performance grounding which has led to his current highly successful solo act, and you can see many glowing reviews of his performances on www.lemonrock.com/stevewatts.

In the noughties, Steve ran Big D Studios, a recording facility just outside of Exeter owned by his company Apache Multimedia. The quality of the studio was quickly recognised and it became the preferred studio for Tony Blair's 'New Deal for Musicians Scheme' in the area. The studio was also used for the recording of comedy jingles for the 'Steve Wright in the Afternoon' show on BBC Radio Two - the most popular show on radio at the time. Steve has also recorded the sound for commercials which have aired on Westcountry Television and the Sky channel Nickelodeon, as well as recording the voice of the celebrated actor Ian Richardson for the DVD 'The life of Shakespeare' which also features the voice of Dame Judi Dench. The studio was heavily praised by Mr Richardson:

"What a very real pleasure to find a superbly fitted, thoroughly professional sound studio so close to my Devon base! Please be assured that there are no facilities which I have encountered in the metropolis more efficient than Apache - and in many cases, nothing like so patient and friendly"

Sound on Sound, the UK's biggest selling hi-tech music magazine asked Steve to write an article of the use of computer software products in a studio environment. The article was published in the magazine in 2000.


In more recent years Steve has performed live many times on local radio, particularly BBC Radio Devon, including the 'John Govier Birthday Bash' broadcast live from Plymouth and video-streamed around the world via the internet by BBC Spotlight. As well as playing covers, Steve was specifically asked to sing 'See you tonight' at the concert which is an original song from his album 'Andabrek' as it had been so popular with listeners to the show. Consequently he was asked to write a song for the BBC Radio Devon Christmas Special. Steve wrote 'An Angel Sheds A Tear' which, in addition to being broadcast by the BBC, was also considered for Cliff Richard's 2008 Christmas single!

In April 2009, Steve released his album of original songs, 'Andabrek' under the name Stephen James. The album has been well received and has enjoyed airplay on BBC Radio Devon, Exeter FM and Palm FM. Andabrek was also reviewed by the Caragan Group later the same year. See the reviews page on www.andabrek.com.

In December 2009, Steve signed a contract with Tiger Aspect Television in connection with his Eurovision entry for 2010.


Coaching

Whether you are a solo performer or a band member, whether you want to write original songs or perform covers, Steve can help you develop all aspects of your material, and brings the benefit of his studio experience to help you understand recording techniques and make the most of that precious studio time.
He is well respected by many of the musicians in and around the Exeter area and has helped many of them in one way or another, beginners and professional musicians alike.

"At first I must confess I was a little apprehensive that you would pull my songs apart, but actually you were very encouraging and showed me very simple ways in which my songs can be improved. So thanks very much for giving me new enthusiasm and I must say I'm looking forward to my next lesson."
Jayne Thirkill, Singer Songwriter

"After receiving tuition from Steve Watts, I have gained knowledge and confidence in my playing and song writing abilities. With his vast knowledge in music technology it has helped me recently to write and record two demo’s which have received plenty of positive criticism. This has now given me the enthusiasm to learn more." Martin Threadgold, Guitarist & Singer

Coaching sessions are £12.50 per half hour, first session free, and are hosted by:

Musicroom,
154 Sidwell Street,
Exeter,
Devon EX4 6RT.
Tel: 01392 436258
Fax: 01392 438447
exeter@musicroom.com

Contact Steve by phone on 01395 567263 or by email at steve@bigdstudios.co.uk